Steely Dan was the studio-perfectionist rock project of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, formed at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York in 1972. Jazz harmony, top-tier session players, and acid-dry lyrics peaked on Aja (1977) — the essential first spin — while Two Against Nature (2000) won Album of the Year decades later. Browse Steely Dan vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Steely Dan formed at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York in 1972 around Donald Fagen (born January 10, 1948, Passaic, New Jersey) and Walter Becker (born February 20, 1950, New York City; died September 3, 2017). The band's name was taken from a sexual device in William S. Burroughs's novel Naked Lunch (1959). They are widely cited as one of the most important contemporary rock and jazz-rock bands in popular music history. Their late-1970s catalog - particularly Aja (1977) and Gaucho (1980) - established their distinctive blend of sophisticated jazz-influenced compositions, virtuosic session musician contributions, and perfectionist studio production. They shifted from a touring band to a studio-only project in 1974 (Becker/Fagen dislike of touring), with Fagen and Becker functioning as the two-person core supported by extensive session musicians (Larry Carlton, Steve Gadd, Bernard Purdie, Michael McDonald, and dozens of other top-tier session musicians). The band dissolved in 1981 following Gaucho. Fagen pursued solo work (The Nightfly 1982). The band reformed in 1993 with Two Against Nature (2000) winning the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2001 (an unprecedented late-career renaissance). They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001. Walter Becker died of esophageal cancer on September 3, 2017 at age 67. Donald Fagen has continued touring as Steely Dan with session musicians. Their foundational influence on contemporary rock, jazz-rock, and broader contemporary American popular music is widely cited.
Steely Dan's sound combines rock, jazz-rock, jazz fusion, soft rock, yacht rock, blue-eyed soul, pop rock, and art rock with Fagen's distinctive vocal delivery, virtuosic compositional approaches (use of jazz harmony, complex chord progressions, and unconventional rock song structures), session musician contributions, and lyrical content addressing dark satirical, literary, and cynical themes drawing on American literary traditions.
Original ABC Records, MCA Records, Giant Records, and Reprise Records pressings of the Steely Dan catalog are foundational items in contemporary rock and jazz-rock collecting, with collector premiums on rare pressings.
Listeners new to Steely Dan typically start with Aja (1977) or The Royal Scam (1976).
